A Forum for Orthodox Jewish thought on Halacha, Hashkafa, and the social issues of our time.

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

A View of Satmar Education from an Insider

Frida Vizel does a good job describing the truth about
Chasidic education. In her Tablet Magazine article of the same title, she tries
to be objective about her former community. The former Satmar community
resident describes in some detail what life is really like there and tries to
navigate between the two polar opposite descriptions of it. Claiming it is not as dire as Shulem Deen describes in his New York Times oped on the subject, but does agrees
that they could still use a lot of improvement.

I should note that even though Ms. Vizel was educated by Satmar
she is quite articulate. This does not however reflect the kind of education
the men receive in that world. Women do get a secular education there. I don’t
know whether she is observant or not, but that is irrelevant. I believe she has
presented an honest view of Satmar life.

The point of her article is that their finances and job opportunities
are a lot better than the impression one gets from the many stories and opinion
pieces written about them. Here is how she puts it:

To hear the defenders of core education say it, a community
of children without modern education will result in destitution and a reliance
on government handouts—your tax dollars. The problem with this argument is
that it is hyperbolic and insincere, even if census data seems to support it.
It is true that Hasidim need to do more to provide adequate vocational training
for jobs that require specific credentials. But that’s different from saying
Hasidim are really one of the poorest communities in the country. Several
factors skew the census data: Hasidim have very large families; I come from one
of fifteen. They live in heavily concentrated areas, which amplifies any trend.
Income might be underreported. And the community is very good at using its
collective power to lobby and organize for as many government programs as
possible. Just because people are good at getting benefits doesn’t mean they
are poorer.

While Mrs, Vizel tries to use these words to defend her old
community, I find this description falling short of that mark

The community is still grossly under-educated and its members often uses antiquated means to support themselves. This is hardly a prescription for a financially secure future in a 21st century economy. Here is her description of how her community survives:

How do Hasidim make money if they don’t get a secular education? The Hasidic economy seems to operate in old-school, wheeler-dealer, handle-bandle kind of way. The men who don’t speak English learn it as they go along, and their female relatives help. When I was a child, my father would often phone from the office and ask us to ask our mother how to say this or that word in Aynglish. “And ask Mammi…. vus meynt alternate?” To this day, my father speaks a barely comprehensible English, even as he runs a large organization for disabled children and often interacts with Albany politicians.

Her father’s success is probably due more to his own personal determination and ingenuity than it is to any preparation through Satmar’s educational philosophy.

What about the statistics that say Satmar is the
poorest community in the nation? It is true as she notes that a number of factors - such as large families - skew the census data.
But she practically admits that her community under reports their income and actually is a lot better off than those statistics show. She also notes the
extensive use of as many government programs as possible.

Well, that combined with under-reporting
of income easily lends itself to possible massive fraud in the aggregate.

She might argue that everyone under-reports income to some
degree. I doubt that. It is true that many
people will hide a small amount of income and not
report it to the IRS. Which is still wrong.
But that's still a lot different than defrauding the welfare system by taking
money they do not really qualify for. And even leaving ethics out of it, most
Orthodox Jews do not depend on welfare and are statistically less likely to defraud the
welfare system. Besides - the Jews doing it that least should be those claiming the highest level of Torah observance. I suspect the opposite is true based on statistics alone.

What kind of job training is available to Satmar Chasidim if they don't have a secular education?

By her own admission the kind of job training they get ‘in-community’
is limited to jobs that do not require specific credentials. Which means home town jobs like Torah teachers, store clerks,fish
mongers, butchers and the like. We aren't talking about people with marketable
credentialed skills, like plumbers, welders, or carpenters, let alone a
profession requiring a higher education.

It is highly likely that all this translates into pay that is considerably lower than those trained on the outside – where apprenticeships in the trades most often lead to certification. Furthermore only those trades that serve the community are
available for them to be trained ‘in-community’. There are a variety of trades that
are not available to them simply because they are not needed in that community
directly. The only apprenticeship training
they can get for those trades is on the outside. Who is going want to hire and train someone
that can barely speak English?

Mrs. Vizel also notes that one of their sources of income are Gemachs (free loan societies). Is that any way to support a family? To borrow as
much money as one can?

It is also not so much of a surprise that the typical signs of poverty don’t exist in Satmar. Here is what she says to indicate that:

When I walk through
my Hasidic community, I don’t see the markers of some of the poorer
neighborhoods. There are no homeless Hasidim lying at the corner, no Hasidic
mothers begging for food, no abuse of drugs to numb the pain. I see a people
nicely dressed, with the children in ribbons and bows.

No one accuses Satmar Chasidim of being drug addicts. No one accuses
them of not having great family values... or of not being great parents. The only
concern is how they pay for being ‘nicely dressed, with the children in ribbons
and bows.’

All of which brings me back to the issue at hand. The utter
lack of any secular education for Satmar men. The Satmar Rebbe of Kiryas Joel
is shortchanging his Chasidim - with the false claim that he is fighting
secular education as a function of Gzeiras Shmad. There should be no doubt about it. Unfortunately that is a claim bought into so easily by far too many of his Chasidim.

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About Me

My outlook on Judaism is based mostly on the teachings of my primary Rebbe, Rabbi Aaron Soloveichik from whom I received my rabbinic ordination. It is also based on a search for spiritual truth. Among the various sources that put me on the right path, two great philosophic works stand out: “Halakhic Man” and “Lonely Man of Faith” authored by the pre-eminent Jewish philosopher and theologian, Rabbi, Dr. Joseph B. Soloveitchik. Of great significance is Rabbi, Dr. Norman Lamm's conceptualization and models of Torah U’Mada and Dr. Eliezer Berkovits who introduced me to the world of philosophic thought. Among my early influences were two pioneers of American Elementary Torah Chinuch, Rabbis Shmuel Kaufman and Yaakov Levi. The Yeshivos I attended were Yeshivas Telshe for early high school and more significantly, the Hebrew Theological College where for a period of ten years, my Rebbeim included such great Rabbinic figures as Rabbis Mordechai Rogov, Shmaryahu Meltzer, Yaakov Perlow, Herzl Kaplan, and Selig Starr. I also attended Roosevelt University where I received my Bachelor's Degree - majoring in Psychology.